The Tuscarora Heroes Monument in Lewiston, N.Y., Susan Geissler, sculptor. On Dec. 19, 1813, the village of Lewiston faced a devastating assault by a joint British-Mohawk force which had just captured Fort Niagara. The only effective resistance came from local Tuscarora tribesmen, outnumbered by 30 to 1, who managed to divert the attack and escort dozens of villagers to safety. This monument was erected by the Historical Association of Lewiston for the bicentennial of the battle.
found themselves facing off against British- allied Haudenosaunee from the Six Nations Reserve in Ontario. In the war, Thomas John served for more than two years in two dif- ferent units, in Tall John’s company of New York Indians and with Ut-ha-wa’s company of New York Militia. He fought at three major battles – the battles of Chippawa, Fort Erie and Lundy’s Lane, in which he was wounded. His wife Dinah accompanied him for a part of his enlistment time. When her husband returned from war, the
Johns settled in their home, a one-and-a-half story house that was just south of the council house on the reservation. There she raised two children, a son named Abram and a daughter, Elizabeth Tallchief George. Along with her famous Onondaga contemporary and friend, Captain Samuel George, Wolf clan chief and keeper of the wampum, she was rooted in On- ondaga traditions, but she understood that the world around her was rapidly changing. Later, after two decades of incredible persistence, she was finally able to secure a pension from
the New York State Legislature in 1878 for her military service, just five years before her death. She was awarded an $8 per month pension as well as a lump sum payment of $400. Her pension had been denied for more
than 20 years by the Federal Bureau of Pen- sions since, among other reasons, she had refused to take an oath of allegiance to the United States. Like other sovereignty-mind- ed Onondagas, her allegiance was first and foremost to the Haudenosaunee, although she considered her Native peoples allies of the United States and was willing to serve as a volunteer. The Onondaga elder was able to navigate
herself through both the Iroquois world and the white man’s space of Syracuse and beyond. Even though she remained an Onondaga con- servative to the end of her life, she became “Aunt Dinah” to whites in central New York. She used her gentle demeanor, advanced age, gender and merchandising skills to win favor and sell her handicrafts in Syracuse’s central commercial district.
At a time when white civic leaders in cen-
tral New York and Albany politicians were still labeling the Onondagas as “savages,” describing reservation life as “depraved” and urging the replacement of the traditional council of chiefs with an elected system, John became the noble exception, the vanishing “full blood,” the friendly native woman with artistic, entrepreneurial and social skills who was allowed to freely enter the white space of Syracuse’s downtown commercial center. By 1880, when she became blind, infirm and housebound, her failing condition be- came major news even for the Syracuse news- papers. At the time of her death on May 26, 1883, Dinah John was anywhere between 99 and 109 years of age. In death, she remained true to her Onondaga ways. Her funeral pro- cession went from a Syracuse funeral parlor directly to the council house, followed by the Methodist chapel and cemetery. X
Laurence M. Hauptman is SUNY Distinguished Professor Emeritus of History.
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 45
PHOTO BY WILLIAM CARPENTER, COURTESY OF HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION OF LEWISTON, INC.
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